Project-40 gets revamped; drafts combined in overhaul of player distribution procedure
No one can know just how super the so-called MLS superdraft will be, but the possibilities are creating a stir in team offices unlike anything since the league’s initial drafts in 1996.
A stale, staid process has been overhauled. No longer are there separate collegiate and supplemental phases. No longer will coaches and GMs verbally jostle to be next in line for the next Project-40 phenom.
For 2000, variety will spice up the MLS draft. Six rounds of picks, anything goes. Players of all makes and models into one pot.
The college and supplemental drafts, which were formerly separate phases of three rounds each, have been combined. The former college first round is the superdraft first round, the first supplemental round has become the superdraft second round, and the sequence continues through the entire draft.
Project-40 players will be tossed into the hopper along with everyone else. Teams can still dicker and deal to find a suitable spot in the draft to claim the top youngsters, but no longer will public spats erupt, as occurred in the assignments of Ben Olsen and Chris Albright to D.C. United.
And the college pool will be enhanced by a new classification system for foreign players. Young, foreign-born players not holding U.S. citizenship nor a green card receive exemptions from counting on a team’s roster and/or against its foreign-player limit.
Draft picks increase in value
Assuming a fair smattering of top college underclassmen come out early and some of the key U.S. U-17 World Cup finalists ink MLS contracts, surprises and suspense may linger into the later rounds.
“It’s a little early to really know what’s going to be out there,” said D.C. United general manager Kevin Payne. “We’re still not sure how many college players will choose to come out early, and how many of the under-17s the league will be able to get.
“But this is a great move for the league. I’m really excited about it.”
The shuffling and dealing has already begun.
Columbus has sent talented but erratic midfielder Andy Williams to the Fusion for the No. 3 pick overall. New England dealt Jeff Baicher and a pick to Kansas City for the Wizards’ selections in the second, third and fourth round.
“It will make for a deeper draft,” said Chicago general manager Peter Wilt. “Under the old system, New England probably wouldn’t have made that trade.”
In the past two seasons, little of value remained after the first two college rounds and initial supplemental round. Of the 24 possible picks in the second and third supplemental rounds last year, half were not used. The Mutiny had a pick in each round, and passed on both of them.
There were exceptions. Columbus snagged John DeBrito in the second supplemental round last year, and his work at defensive mid bouyed the Crew’s sometimes chaotic midfield. Defender Tim Martin, who spent the first three MLS seasons in San Jose before being waived, played 19 games in a Rapids backline ravaged by injuries.
Most coaches felt the non-college, non-foreign talent had worn pretty thin as of last season as economics worked against the older players.
“I think some players who might have made the jump to MLS in the past, the older players who are playing in the A-League and playing indoor, will keep doing that rather than coming to our league,” said Payne. “They make more money playing both, and most teams are going to want younger guys anyway.”
The league’s shift toward younger talent is reflected by its affiliations with the Tahuichi Academy and the Caribbean Football Union, and the establishment of a reserve pool of young players.
Teams will have more roster places to work with. The roster limit has been reduced from 20 to 19, but teams will be permitted to carry as many as five additional players if they meet criteria of age and origin. Those five players do not count against the roster, and hence, their salaries do not count against the cap, which is to be increased slightly to $1.7 million.
As before, Project-40 players will not count on a team’s regular roster. It is a measure of their importance the league is changing its distribution procedure in part to provide a fairer method of absorbing them into MLS.
Project-40 battles prompted changes
In the case of Olsen, he dictated to the league he would only play for D.C. United. Many coaches objected to this arrangement, by which the league’s best team received the best available college player.
Olsen’s move preceded the decision by several other players, such as Brian West, Scott Vermillion and Josh Wolff, to take the Project-40 option.
Albright’s situation, and that of Dema Kovalenko, reflected the schisms and problems inherent in the Project-40 allocation process.
During last year’s MLS draft, Chicago was told by MLS to trade for the right to get Kovalenko. The Fire traded two picks to Dallas, which the league deemed next in line to receive a Project-40 allocation, and landed Kovalenko.
Last season, Dallas coach Dave Dir was one of many coaches to question the system. “I don’t have any problems following the rules, but I could never find out what the rules were,” he said. “Some teams had an advantage, and I could never get anyone to tell me what the procedure was supposed to be.”
More wrinkles were added to solve the Albright situation last summer. MLS told Albright he could submit his choice of three teams, not just one, but Albright had no real intention of going to Chicago or Los Angeles ù which were ostensibly two of his choices ù rather than his first preference, D.C. United. Miami was due the next Project-40 player.
Albright’s cost to D.C. United turned out to be steep. For Albright and John Maessner, D.C. traded a player to be named later and a first-round college draft pick to Miami.
Roy Lassiter became the player to be named later, and Miami sent that same draft pick in late December to Columbus in exchange for Williams.
The dealing and swapping will continue, and teams now have a lot more cards to play.
“It’s a new challenge for the teams,” said Wilt. “You’re always weighing your short-term needs with those that are long-term. In the draft, you had to balance one against the other, and Project-40 exacerbated the situation.
“With this system, teams will be forced to make more decisions in their valuations of short-term and long-term needs. I think it’s going to be great for the teams, and for the league.”
by Soccer America senior editor Ridge Mahoney